The Gospel According to LOST, by Chris Seay: A Review

To date, 108 “Lost” episodes have aired on ABC, and if you’re like me and have seen all of them, you fairly quickly realize that “Lost” is not your typical science fiction television series.  It is not even your typical stranded-on-an-island story.  “Lost” is really not typical in any way, shape, or form, which probably explains the devotion, constancy and urgency of its fans.  Everyone who watches “Lost” wants to know what is going on with this messed up island.  We all want to know the answers.  Chris Seay, the author of the above mentioned book, is a pastor and one of those fans.

Admittedly, Mr. Seay is hooked on the show.  And like most of the show’s others millions of viewers, he realized this is more than an epic story that we’re all watching unfold.  Mr. Seay recognized the symbols, saw the layers and is making attempts to read the signs by writing his book, The Gospel According to Lost.  Mr. Seay doesn’t have an insider’s scoop on what’s going on.  He’s not a best friend of the producer.  He doesn’t know Matthew Fox personally.  Mr. Seay doesn’t give us any answers, but what he does do is dig a little deeper into the historical and biblical references of the show in order to give the viewers, particularly the Christian viewers, a little more food for thought.  He goes character by character and cleverly breaks down some of clues, analogies and symbols that pop up regularly in the series and gives his take on it from a biblical perspective.

Normally, I don’t go for books like this.  I see them as an opportunist’s way to make a fast buck, preying on society’s interest in popular culture.  I’m also a fan of the show “24,” and I once saw a book on the shelf called Finding God in “24″, or something like that.  While that show has been greatly entertaining, I simply pshawed at this title, because I don’t think you can find a lot of God in “24,” unless, of course, the author was talking about the star Jack Bauer because the writers regularly portray him as god-like.  But “Lost”, as I said before is different….

One simply has to read over the characters’ names to realize the writers had something more than just a compelling story in mind:  John Locke, Jacob, Faraday, Benjamin Linus, Jack Shephard, Juliet, James, etc.  It reads as an eclectic list of historical figures, biblical heroes, literary characters, scientists and philosophers.  Some of the episode titles are: “Man of Science, Man of Faith,” “The Greater Good,” “The 23rd Psalm,” “The Cost of Living,” and “316.”  Obviously, there’s a little more depth here for an author to work with than your common television series.

I, as a “Lost” fan, enjoyed this book.  Mr. Seay explained a few of the obscure references and caused a few light bulb moments for me.  He brought to light a few references that my tired, mommy brain never picked up on, and caused me more than once to want to go re-watch a few of the older seasons that have become a little fuzzy in my memory.  The author does all of this without sounding preachy or overly didactic.  And yet, in the course of the book, the Gospel (according to Jesus this time) is within the pages, so a random fan who might pick up this book and read it, might put it down one step closer to not being lost (spiritually).

One thing that is crucial in the reading of this book, is that you MUST NOT pick it up until you have watched the series through Season 5.  I had only watched through Season 4, and there was no apt warning, and sadly I experienced a few spoilers because of it.  Another weakness in the book, obviously, is the limited audience.  Although “Lost” has a following of millions, I don’t think that anyone who is not a fan would be interested in the book.  As a matter of fact, they’d be…well, um…lost trying to read and make sense of it.  And of those millions of fans, I think only the ones that are Christians, would actually seek out the book.  However, like I said, it might be a good read to pass onto unbelieving friends.  The worst they could do is scoff.

All in all, The Gospel According to LOST, is a well-written, easy read for fans that are interested in peeling back some of the spiritual layers of this popular TV series.

***Thomas Nelson provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.***